Manchester United star Alejandro Garnacho fell on the pre-season tour of Erik ten Hag

Manchester United rising star Alejandro Garnacho was dropped on the club’s summer tour after breaking the rules set by manager Erik ten Hag, it has emerged.

Garnacho was on United’s trip to Bangkok and Australia following a breakthrough season for the club’s FA Youth Cup-winning team, but did not feature in any of the four games after twice turning up late for team meetings on the trip.

Ten Hag has not been afraid to be tough on his United stars since joining from Ajax, and decided to teach Garnacho a lesson. The teenager trained with the rest of the squad but did not play in pre-season until the final friendly against Rayo Vallecano at Old Trafford.

United declined to comment on Saturday night, but are clearly happy with Garnacho’s discipline now. They have reaped the rewards of Ten Hag’s no-nonsense approach after the hugely talented teenager made his first start and scored his first goal in the last 10 days.

Garnacho made his debut against Sheriff Tiraspol in the Europa League and then scored in the win over Real Sociedad on Thursday. He became United’s youngest non-English goalscorer in Europe at 18 years and 125 days, beating George Best’s record by 33 days.

He could play again at Aston Villa on Sunday with Antony, Jadon Sancho and Anthony Martial still being assessed after missing the win over Sociedad through injury and illness.

After the match in San Sebastian, team captain Bruno Fernandes referred to Garnacho’s pre-season problems, saying: ‘He knows we expect a lot from him. He wasn’t at his best at the start of the season. On the tour he didn’t have the best attitude that he should have, but now he’s training better and getting his chances. He deserves his chances.

Ten Hag also mentioned Garnacho’s disciplinary problems following his man-of-the-match performance against Sheriff a week earlier when he appeared to deliberately talk down the young man’s display to keep his feet on the ground.

“I think it was a good performance from him,” said the United boss. He did what I expected him to do, he deserved a chance.

– The beginning of the season was difficult for him. I wasn’t happy with him, but the last few weeks I was happy with him – a better attitude, more resilience, more determination.

“Young children have to grow and raise their personality. They have to know what the laws and requirements are in top football. You have to meet the high standards every day.’

It is understood there was less concern about Garnacho’s attitude after he joined United’s academy two years ago from Atletico Madrid; little details like showing up to practice with your shoelaces untied.

But Ten Hag made it clear from the start that he was determined to instill more discipline, and being late to team meetings would not be tolerated.

Last month he dropped Cristiano Ronaldo from the squad and made the Portugal star train on his own after he refused to come on as a substitute against Tottenham and left Old Trafford before the end of the game.

Ten Hag hopes that Garnacho has put any problems behind him and that there will be no more problems with the club’s young players last season.

Talks continue over a new contract after he scored seven goals in United’s successful Youth Cup campaign and was called up to the Argentina squad to train alongside Lionel Messi.